Friday, October 7th, 2011 I couldn’t decide whether to quote Hemingway or Twain, when it comes to discussing characters.
“A writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.”
~Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway gets right to the heart of it, but Twain’s irreverence takes it a step further: echoing Hemingway’s thoughts, but noting also that it’s what authors do with those characters that makes us want to keep on reading.
“The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to fail. The trouble with most fiction is that you want them all to land in hell, together, as quickly as possible.”
~Mark Twain
Twain’s right: We want to see those characters bound in figurative chains, writhing in agony, in whatever cesspit of a situation that will make them the angriest, or saddest, or vengeful. That makes good reading.
Characters are more than their eye color, how they dress, and their physique. So, to write a great story, we’ve got to get into the psyche of the character, know his loves and hates, what makes him tick and how he’ll react, and then expose him to the very flames which will make him twist.
When you know your character well, you’ll find story and plot ideas will leap out of the knowledge, begging to be written.
Here’s Your Prompt:
Build a character by identifying traits, phrases and situations which can be mixed and matched. Divide a piece of paper into thirds and write “Adjective” at the top of the first column, “Person or Profession” at the top of the second, and “Phrase or Situation” at the top of the third.
My example:
| Adjective |
Person/Profession |
Phrase/Situation |
| lonely |
middle-aged woman |
“Deuces wild, jacks or better to open.” |
| deviant |
seer |
missed the bus |
| belligerent |
teenager |
broken down on the side of the road |
| venomous |
wizard |
lost in Detroit City |
The tendency is to write across the page, filling out the row…but I urge you to fill in the columns instead. It’s too easy (see my belligerent teenager? My lonely middle-aged woman?) to come up with ‘cardboard’ characters while filling in the blanks.
While you’re at it, choose some interesting adjectives and situations. Challenge yourself to find words and labels beyond the ordinary.
Do you write in a particular genre? Then choose appropriate words and situations. If you write fantasy, stay away from the mundane. Include wizards and gremlins and dragons on the page. Sci-fi? Add some interplanetary locales or some phrases based on future tech. Victorian romance? You get the idea…
Write to the bottom of the page, more if you can. Do the same, even if you’re typing. The more options you have the better.
Once you’re done, choose an item from each column and meet your new character. Try unusual pairings to see what you can come up with. At no time can you use any two (or three!) items from the same line.
Write a few sentences about your new character. Why is the middle-aged woman venomous? How did a teenager from (fill in the blank) get lost in Detroit City? Decide how your character got to be this way: give him or her a little back story. Judging from that, what are your characters likes and dislikes?
Next week: we’ll find some awful situations to put your characters in!
Friday, September 30th, 2011  I always get a little itchy around the change of seasons — for a change of scenery — particularly during Autumn.
Is it because I know Winter is just around the corner and I’ll be cooped up inside? Or, is it the allure of Fall foliage that has me wanting to gad about?
I’m not sure.
It could simply be the weather. (I stepped out onto the porch this morning into bright, clear sunshine, hot on my arms, coupled with a cool breeze. Perfect hiking weather.)
Or, it could be I need of a change of pace.
Whatever.
The ache is there, simply to get away.
Here’s Your Prompt:
Go somewhere you’ve never been before, and write. Do you frequent the same coffee bar to write? Try a different one. Do you go to the same park? Try a different bench, with a different view. Turn your back on the old one.
The point here is to see something different while you’re writing.
Can’t get out of the house? Write in a different room (or on the front porch, or even in the hallway.)
If this isn’t appealing, pull out some old snapshots of places you’ve been, or postcards you’ve received. Give them a good look and write about what you see.
Open an atlas, or spin a globe. Close your eyes and let your finger drop down on a location. Write about it. Don’t do any research, just write what you know. If you don’t know anything, make it up. Write what you think the scenery might look like, and how the people look and talk and act. Write about the things you could do there.
Before you begin your journey, don’t forget to write a farewell letter.
Friday, September 23rd, 2011 Happy Autumnal Equinox!
Today is the first day of Fall, my favorite season.
I love crisp weather, the smell of woodsmoke, and the changing of the leaves. I’m also a big fan of shorter days and longer nights. (I love the night!) And, I can’t wait to wear all those things I’ve been knitting.
I love fall colors…crisp, red apples; heavy, orange pumpkins; papery, yellow leaves.
Summer is a shadow — a watered down step-sister — of her vibrant kin Autumn, and I’m glad she’s moving on.
Fall is rich in sights and sounds that just aren’t as available in the summer months. It’s like Mother Nature turns a switch and suddenly, instead of these hazy, lazy, sultry days, we’ve got sound and motion when the wind rattles dried leaves still on the branches; and, we’ve got rich color in pumpkins and gourds and mums; and we’re bombarded by the perfume of pie, and wood smoke, and simmering stew and baked turkey.
Yum! Autumn is a hedonist’s delight!
Here’s Your Prompt:
A veritable cornucopia of writing prompt ideas…
- Write an essay about something you did or remember during the Fall when you were growing up — something you have strong feelings about, good or bad: raking leaves, carving pumpkins, sneaking cigarettes outside in the cold, a bonfire, a family get together.
- Word Association: Harvest time. Falling leaves. Corn mazes. Acorns. Pumpkins. Scarecrows. Hay rides. Halloween. Haunted Houses. Thanksgiving.
- Tell a ghost story: one you’ve made up, or one you or someone you know has experienced.
- Imagine that you (or your character) is forced to live outside though Fall and Winter. How would you survive? What would be the worst part about it?
- Write about the changing of the seasons. How they affect you or your characters. What’s bad about the change? Or good? What if the season never changed?
- Write about your favorite season. Why is it your favorite? what makes it better than all the others?
- Write about your least-favorite season. Why do you dislike it? what makes it the worst time of year?
Friday, September 16th, 2011  Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of (usually) one stanza of verse.
Traditionally, the first and last lines contain 5 syllables and the second line contains 7.
More strictly:
The soul of a haiku poem is a “cutting” word – which separates two ideas – but also shows how the two ideas are related.
Most pre-19th century Haiku also contain a “kiro” – a seasonal reference in the poem. These kiro come from a strict, delineated list of words, mostly references to nature (which made some folks mistakenly conclude that all Haiku are written about nature.)
Finally, traditional Haiku are written vertically, instead of horizontally. (I love the visual appeal of words tumbling down the page.)
Here’s Your Prompt:
We’re not going to be strict today. Simply write a haiku of three lines, containing 5, 7, and 5 syllables (in that order). Write it about some recent event or something you feel strongly about.
Bonus points if you post in the comments!
Here’s mine:
Displaced, dispossessed
No office to call my own.
It rained in the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The image used above comes from the website Alice nel paese delle gozzoviglie.. It also contains the translation in English.
Friday, September 9th, 2011 A lipogram is a form of writing (or word game) which forbids the use of a particular letter or letters. Generally, a lipogram forbids the letter ‘e,’ one of the most common letters in the English language. But many variations have been used.
Entire novels have been written in lipogram. For instance, author Walter Abish wrote Alphabetical Africa, constraining each chapter by alphabet. Chapter 1 uses only words beginning with the letter A. Chapter 2 allows words beginning with A and B, until Chapter 26, which permits all 26 letters of the English alphabet. The second half of the book removes letters in the reverse order in which they were added. Z words disappear in chapter 28, Y words in chapter 29, etc…
Over at the site, Curious Notions, the nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence” is re-written several times. Here is just on example:
| Original:
Sing a song of sixpence
A pocket full of rye.
Four-and-twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.
As the pie was opened
The birds began to sing.
Wasn’t that a dainty dish
To set before the King?
The King was in the counting house
Counting out his money.
The Queen was in the parlor
Eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes.
When along came a blackbird
And pecked off her nose. |
No Is or Ss:
Croon a kreutzer canzonet,
A pocket full of coal,
Four-and-twenty waterfowl
Baked beneath a roll.
When the roll unfolded, well
They all began to peep —
An elegant entrée that made
The Monarch clap and leap.
The Monarch, under lock and key,
Computed all the money.
The parlor kept the Queen, who ate
Of bread and clover honey.
The flower garden held the wench,
Who hung the wool and lace.
A crow appeared and plucked the olfact’ry
Organ from her face. |
Here’s Your Prompt:
Re-write a famous nursery rhyme, poem or saying in the style of a lipogram.
Here are some resources you may need to help you:
Friday, September 2nd, 2011 A drabble is a 100-word story, not including the title, which can be up to 15 words. (Here, you can read about the history of drabbles.)
When I was an editor at NFG Magazine, we published a similar bit of flash fiction in the form of a contest: 69ers – short stories of exactly 69 words, including the title. (Here, you can read all the 69ers published by NFG.)
(Until Twitter came along, these were the ultimate in Flash Fiction.)
Here’s Your Prompt:
Write a drabble or a 69er. Stick with their respective rules: if you write a drabble, it must be exactly 100 words and can include a title of 15 words or less. If you write a 69er, the title (required!) must be counted in the 69 words.
Need a plot to get started? Here are some nifty plot generators:
Friday, August 26th, 2011  Kids in my county go back to school on Tuesday. Others started back last week.
(I only realized that when the traffic got bad again on the way to work in the a.m….)
This summer just blew right by me.
I haven’t been fishing once. [That is a truly sad statement.]
In honor of this occasion of summer ending and school beginning, I figured we should have a back to school prompt (starting with the inevitable, groan inspiring … wait for it…)
Here’s Your Prompt:
Choose one or several items below to write about. Don’t just answer the question. Give some thought to the whys and wherefores. Write for 5, 10 or fifteen minutes. Or, write until you’re done. Hammer our a rough draft and leave it. Or, polish it up for publication. Turn these into memoir-type essays, letters to your family members, genealogical vignettes, or whatever you wish!
- What did you do on your summer vacation? (Okay, now you can groan.)
- Best. Vacation. Ever. (This one is pure fiction. If you could do anything, go anywhere, what would it be?)
- Where did the summer go?
- If it were summer every day…
- August is the only month of the year without a (U.S.-observed) holiday. Make one up! How would you celebrate it?
- I’m looking forward to __________ this school year…
- Five things I like about school.
- How I’m going to make this the best school year ever!
- What is the most significant memory (bad or good!) from each year of elementary school, high school, university or technical school?
Friday, August 19th, 2011  I was emptying out the pockets of my favorite jacket this week before I’d tossed it into the washer when I pulled out a note I’d apparently written to myself.
I say “apparently” because I have no recollection of making the note. I also have no idea what it means.
16,491.
Why would I jot down a number, without context, on a scrap of paper napkin? Didn’t this note deserve an entire napkin? This number must have been important…and yet, it’s meaningless now. I can’t even begin to think about how much time has passed since I wrote it.
What could it have meant?
All kinds of possibilities flood my mind: it’s a pin number for a bank account, it’s the amount of money in my bank account, it’s how much money I owe someone…
(Why does my mind think of money, just because it’s a number?)
Maybe it’s a measurement: in feet, or miles, or minutes. What if it’s the number of something my character desperately needs to complete her quest? Get on with his life? End her journey?
What if my character never figures this out?
Here’s Your Prompt:
Go dig through your pockets looking for cryptic notes!
I realize that won’t work for everyone, so here are some alternatives:
- Open the book nearest to your dominant hand, turn to a random page, and write down a few words, or perhaps the sentence, smack in the middle of the page.
- Do the same with a magazine, a newspaper, or some junk mail from today’s pile.
- Pick up a dictionary or thesaurus, turn to any page, close your eyes and point to a word. Do this five or six times to come up with a completely random phrase.
- If you’re feeling plucky, see if you can find a scribbled note tossed in a trash can at the local coffee shop or deli. (A list of someone else’s errands or grocery wants might be fascinating!)
- Do the same from a co-worker’s trash can… don’t get caught!
- This could work: Explain the task, then ask someone to write the (brief) cryptic note for you.
Now that you’ve got your note…
Write a story or poem (or song, etc.)…
The story could be about someone who finds a cryptic note (in a pocket, on the ground, in a sibling’s locked diary…), or about the ideas engendered by the words (or numbers…)
Maybe the note is a code. Maybe someone else put the note in the protagonist’s pocket. Maybe the note was written by an Alzheimer’s patient to her son, and found by him after her last will and testament is read.
The possibilities are endless….
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
If you enjoy these prompts, please let me know by telling me so in the comments. Feel free to share a snippet or two of what you come up with, as well!
Friday, August 12th, 2011  I’m spending a lot of time on line for my day job lately (whether I like it or not!) – and I realized that Google search provides some interesting ideas for writing prompts.
Today’s top 20 USA searches (at this moment) are:
1. so you think you can dance winner
2. warrant
3. gop debate
4. republican debate
5. ron paul
6. short selling
7. raiders
8. mitt romney
9. meteor shower
10. rick santorum
11. sc
12. chargers
13. cowboys
14. jeff bridges
15. final destination 5
16. alpha
17. mall of america
18. blackberry bold 9900
19. pizza hut
20. haaretz
These topics aren’t really interesting, IMHO, but no worries: Google updates the trends frequently. If you don’t like these searches for prompt suggestions, wait an hour!
Google saves this data on a daily basis, so, you also see what trended on specific days (like national holidays, big news days, or your birthday.) (More information about Google Trends here.)
Twitter also keeps a running list of trending tweet topics on their site. If you have an account, the information is available to you on line. I’m not sure which, if any, third-party twitter clients provide this data, but fear not: the data is available elsewhere.
(But the beauty of getting the Twitter data from the online interface is that the trends default to your location…. but you can change it to show another city if you want, or you can choose national or world-wide trends as well.)
The current trends for Las Angeles are:
#shestooyoungforyoubro
#ReplaceMovieTitlesWithHoe
Jani Lane
#night
Warrant
American Dad
Bert and Ernie
Minutes or Less
That 70
Pauly D
If you don’t tweet, you can still get twitter trending data from a number of sources such as Tendsmap and Tendistic.
Here’s Your Prompt:
Head on over to Google Trends and see what’s popular.
Pretend that a character in your story is making these searches on the internet. Why is he searching these items? What’s happening in your story to support these searches? Is your character surprised by what she found? Is what he found important to the story? Figure out the motivation for your character making these searches. Decide how he’ll use the information, and write it.
If you don’t have a character…
…use the trending topics as a jumping off point for a timed writing exercise. Use the topics as an idea generator, or use them as the beginning (or ending line) of a story. They might even be used as the opening sentence in a story.
Friday, August 5th, 2011  Hot summer days always make me think of cooling off in the ocean. I love racing through the shifting sand, and the sound of my slapping feet on the hard-packed grains by the water. That first dive over a rolling breaker into the ocean is the best.
I prefer the ocean over a swimming pool because it feels alive. The texture of the water is different, the smell, the sound. I especially love it on a windy day, when you can hear the blown grains of sand hissing as they slide over each other, propelled by the gusts.
I love writing by the ocean. It’s inspiring, even if what I’m writing has nothing to do with water or the beach. There’s just something about the atmosphere that sends my muse into overdrive.
It’s hot today, and I’m thinking about the ocean…but I know a lot of folks don’t get supercharged like I do about it. So, today’s prompt is about water. I’ve listed several ideas to get your started…
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write about the ocean. Write about high tide, or low tide, or neap tide. Tell us about when the water reached your thighs, or your waist, or your neck. Write about something that washed up onto the shore.(Well, I had to at least list it, right?)
- Write about a river, a pool, a stream, a swamp. Write about river rocks, uneven footing, slipping into a deep hole, diving into the deep end, learning to swim, the smell of the bog, or swamp people.
- Write about being in a safe harbor, in hot water, a mile above sea level, or something that won’t hold water.
- Write about singing in the rain, taking a bath, or rubber-de-duckies.
- What if you found you could suddenly hold your breath for long periods of time underwater? What if you found you could breath water?
- Perhaps you’re more inspired by quotations…
- “Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.” (From Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
- “As water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.” (From The Old Testament: 2 Samuel Chapter xiv. Verse 14.)
- “For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow…” (From Of the Training of Children, Plutarch)
- “Love in a hut, with water and a crust, Is—Love, forgive us!—cinders, ashes, dust.” (From Lamia. Part ii., John Keats)
|
Writers - Maryland Writer's Assn.
|